FX Renews ‘Louie,’ Looks Ahead To Build Comedy Brand

FX has renewed the absurdist Louis C.K.-starring comedy, ‘Louie,‘ for a second season.

“We’re really thrilled with the show creatively and really happy with its performance,” FX President and General Manager John Landgraf said at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Of the choice to pick the show up five weeks into its freshman run, Landgraf said, “there are two important things in that decision: independent validation from you [critics] and second, the audience. What I’ve seen with ‘Louie’ is an embrace by you and the audience.”

FX descibes ‘Alamaba’ as, “a comedy set a thousand years in the future, aboard the United Nations peacekeeping spaceship: The USS Alabama. The series begins six years into their seven year mission to maintain peace and enforce treaties between planets in their jurisdiction: Sector 187-G. The show will follow the heart- pounding action as our crew visits hostile planets, meets alien life-forms, and tries to have sex with each other in their tiny, metal bunk beds.”

Although known mostly for their drama slate (‘Sons of Anarchy,’ ‘The Shield,’ ‘Damages‘) Landgraf hopes to grow the network’s stable of comedies to at least “six or eight” in the coming seasons.

‘Louie’ will return for a second season in summer 2011 with 13 episodes. The network’s tentpole comedy, ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘ returns for a sixth season September 16.